A lawsuit filed against Heartland Payment Systems over what is believed to be the biggest data breach in U.S. history has been dismissed.

The lawsuit was filed in January against Heartland by shareholders who alleged that Heartland failed to adequately safeguard the compromised consumer data and did not notify consumers about the breach in a timely manner as required by law.

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted Heartland's motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Monday, Heartland said in a statement on Wednesday. The court said the plaintiffs had not proved their allegations that Heartland executives knew the company had inadequate security and misled the public about it, according to a report on StorefrontBacktalk.

Heartland had disclosed the breach January 20, the day of President Obama's inauguration. The breach occurred last year but company officials said they found evidence of the intrusion the week before the announcement and immediately notified law enforcement and credit card companies.

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Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor.
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